Lawyer gets life in ex-husband's death

Piper Rountree will have to serve at least 15 years

By Allan Turner |
May 7, 2005

Houston lawyer Piper Rountree, convicted of murdering her university professor ex-husband at his Richmond, Va., home, was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Rountree, 45, will have to serve at least 15 years of the Virginia sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Her sister, Tina Rountree, 52, the operator of a Houston women's clinic, is awaiting trial in Harris County on a charge of tampering with evidence in the case.

In an exchange Friday with Virginia Judge L.A. Harris Jr., Rountree pleaded for mercy, claiming that she had been a good mother to her three children, said prosecutor Wade Kizer.

'No winners in this case'

Noting that the youngsters would never recover from their father's violent death, Harris accepted the jury's recommendation and assessed the maximum penalty. Rountree has 30 days to file an appeal.

Fredric Jablin, 52, who was divorced from Rountree in 2002 after 19 years of marriage, was shot before dawn on Oct. 30 as he stepped into the yard of his Richmond home to retrieve a newspaper.

"I would say there are no winners in this case," Kizer said. "On the one hand you have a father and distinguished university professor who was murdered. On the other, you have a mother going to prison for a long, long time, and three kids who essentially have lost both parents. They will suffer for the rest of their lives."

The children, ages 9 to 15, now are in the custody of Jablin's brother, who lives in northern Virginia.

Children asleep in the home

In the trial earlier this year, prosecutors argued Rountree killed her ex-husband to regain custody of the children and to obtain $200,000 in life insurance money. The children were asleep at Jablin's residence.

Testimony and evidence indicated Rountree, who moved to Houston after her divorce became final, booked airline reservations to Richmond in her sister's name.

Cellular telephone records indicated she was in Richmond the day of the murder, although Rountree testified she had remained in Houston.

In a letter written from prison to the Houston Chronicle, Rountree insisted on her innocence, and argued that she and her ex-husband finally were amicably cooperating in the rearing of their children. The youngsters, she said, were scheduled to spend the summer at her Kingwood home.